An American couple have been abducted from a bus in Haiti and are being held for ransom, family members have said.
Jean-Dickens Toussaint, 33, and his wife, Abigail Toussaint, of Tamarac, Florida, were in Haiti to see sick relatives and attend a festival when they were abducted on a bus ride from the capital Port-au-Prince last Saturday.
The couple have a one-year-old son who was staying with a relative at the time of the incident.
The kidnappers initially demanded $6,000 (£4,907) for the couple’s release, but once the money was sent, the disbelievers raised the price to $200,000 (£163,572) per person.
“We don’t have that kind of money,” said Nikese Toussaint, the kidnapped man’s sister. ABC News.
A family friend who met the couple at the airport to escort them was also reportedly kidnapped.
“We were very worried when they said they were leaving, we told them not to go but they wanted to go,” the sister added.
Christie, the victims’ niece, who only gave her first name, said she was still in a “state of shock”.
“I feel like it didn’t happen, but I know it did, especially since I saw them last month for my birthday.
“They stopped the bus at a stop and then asked the Americans to get off the bus and their escorts to get off the bus and then they took them away,” she said. Local10 News.
The US State Department said it is aware of reports of Florida citizens missing in Haiti. “When a U.S. citizen is reported missing, we work closely with local authorities as they conduct their search, and share information with families as we can,” the department said in a statement.
The State Department has advised Americans “not to travel” to Haiti due to “kidnappings, crimes, and civil unrest.”
The UN said on Tuesday that nearly 260 kidnappings have been reported since the start of the year, with people abducted from their homes or public places.
He added that new clashes between gangs in and around the Haitian capital have killed at least 187 people in less than two weeks and injured more than 150 others.
The new wave of violence recorded between February 27 and March 9 in Port-au-Prince and the central Artibonite region has also displaced hundreds of people and forced farmers to abandon their fields as the famine rages. worsens, officials said.
“The situation is all the more alarming for children, who are often subjected to all forms of armed violence, including forced recruitment and sexual violence,” the UN said in a statement.
